Mental Status Exam (MSE)

Question 1

Pertinent negative

Answer 1

Characteristics a client doesn’t show

Question 2

Akathisia

Answer 2

Objective or subjective psychomotor restlessness

Question 3

Mood

Answer 3

How a client feels over time - by self-report; “The Climate”

Question 4

Affect

Answer 4

How a client appears to feel; “The Weather”

Question 5

Lability

Answer 5

The degree to which mood/affect change in a given time

Question 6

Appropriateness of mood

Answer 6

The degree of congruence between a client’s emotional expression and content of conversation

Question 7

Circumstantial speech

Answer 7

Tendency to answer questions in tedious and unnecessary detail

Question 8

Loose association

Answer 8

When thought coherence breaks down so the one idea skids into another that isn’t clearly related

Question 9

Latency of response

Answer 9

How rapidly a client responds to questions

Question 10

Neologism

Answer 10

Words made up by client that only have meaning to them

Question 11

Echolalia

Answer 11

Client repeats words or phrases of the interviewer

Question 12

Perseveration

Answer 12

When the client repeats words or phrases, or repeatedly returns to a point that has already been covered or mentioned

Question 13

Poverty of speech

Answer 13

Little spontaneous speech or none at all

Question 14

Delusions

Answer 14

Fixed false belief that cannot be explained by the client’s culture and education

Question 15

Hallucination

Answer 15

False sensory perceptions that occur in the absence of a related sensory stimulus

Question 16

Illusion

Answer 16

Misperceptions of actual stimuli

Question 17

Hypnopompic and hypnagogic hallucinations

Answer 17

Hallucinations that occur during dream-like states when awakening or falling asleep. These are normative.

Question 18

Insight

Answer 18

The client’s ideas about what is wrong

Question 19

Judgement

Answer 19

The client’s ability to decide upon an appropriate course of action to achieve realistic goals

Question 20

Overvalued ideas

Answer 20

Beliefs that continue to be held despite lack of proof as to their worth. They are not obviously false.

Question 21

Thought block

Answer 21

Sudden stoppage of thought in the middle of a sentence

Question 22

Euthymia

Answer 22

No marked affective disturbance displayed during interview

Question 23

Blunted affect

Answer 23

Minimal display of emotion

Question 24

Flat affect

Answer 24

Absence of all emotional reactivity

Question 25

Psychomotor retardation

Answer 25

General slowing of movement, speed, and thought

Question 26

Psychomotor agitation

Answer 26

Restlessness or muscular activity associated with mental tension

Question 27

Pressure of speech

Answer 27

Client feels compelled to talk; difficult to impossible to interrupt

Question 28

Orientation

Answer 28

4: time, place, person, and situation